Discussion on the crisis in/of the humanities and in/of the university institution has in the past decades become ubiquitous. The surge of literature on the subject strongly suggests that the problem is a genuine one. However, the variety of explanations that have been offered not only have brought along confusion, but the majority of these explanations also neglect the historical development of higher education. As such, they tend to underestimate the scale of the problems affecting the humanities and higher education. This article seeks to investigate an alternative explanation that takes into consideration the history of the changing ‘value’ of humanities within higher education. In doing so, the legacy of postmodernism is considered and the idea of a ‘spiritual centre’ of the university and its relation to the humanities is put forth and explored. The article concludes with some contemplations on a possible way out of the current crisis in the humanities and in higher education.